The Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) has proposed a metro rail for Mysore to ease the increasing traffic pressure.

The officials of Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS), who are implementing the metro rail system in Bangalore, are being requested by MUDA to carry out a survey and submit a report on a similar facility in Mysore within a span of three to four months’ time.

Announcing the MUDA’s initiative, Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey said the cost of the survey as well as preparation of the report and the blueprint will be met by the Authority. As there was no compulsion for creating a metro underground rail,.MRTS officials have been requested to conduct the survey for the ground-level rail only.

The MUDA and the Railway Department personnel will be extending their support to the officials of Mass Rapid Transport System in the survey, which will be taken up soon after the clearances are obtained from the State Government. It would be better to have a survey now alone as the project may be financially feasible during the next few years. In future there could be too many bottlenecks given the imminent escalation of the project cost and suggestions for a metro system for Mysore may not meet with approval. Hence the city authorities thought it fit to be ready with a survey plan as Mysore is bound to grow, given the increase in
population due to rapid urbanization, he said.

In its budget, the MUDA had also decided to create a heritage park in the 35 acres of land facing Hotel Lalitha Mahal Palace, for which Rs. 50 lakh has been set apart. The park will have models of the city's heritage structures as well as medicinal plants. The
budget also focuses on development of sites. It has reserved funds for development of parks and the construction of an underbridge between city’s Kuvempunagar and Vidyaranyapuram railway stations. A sum of Rs 21 crore has been set apart to acquire 2000 acres of land for developing new sites. MUDA has developed 9,000 sites in the newly developed Vasanth Nagar, Lal Bahadur Shastri Nagar, Shanthaveeri Gopalgowda Nagar, Lalithadripura and Ravindranath Tagore Nagar. The process of registering for Vasanath Nagar sites has started.

The budget also makes provision of Rs 21 crore for special programmes which include the construction of a swimming pool at a cost of Rs 50 lakh, a stadium in Vijaynagar at a cost of Rs 1 crore, road safety works at a cost of Rs 75 lakh, development works at a cost of Rs 2 crore and for survey of government land near the Chamundi Hills at a cost Rs 1 crore.

The Commissioner announced the MUDA’s commitment of Rs. six crore for the Kabini Drinking Water Project scheme, one-third of the cost of a new drinking water scheme for Mysore. The scheme was mooted some years ago and the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) recently passed a resolution seeking its implementation. This is expected to meet the drinking water requirement in the new areas of the city. The plan includes construction of a plant on the lines of the Melapura, on the banks of the Kabini, which flows near Nanjangud. It is estimated to cost Rs. 18 to Rs. 20 crore.

Likewise, Rs. four crore has been allocated for completing the second stage of the Melapura Water Works, which will augment the availability of water and mitigate the drinking water scarcity that hits Mysore during summer. On completion of the two projects, Mysore's future drinking water requirements will be taken care of.

The MUDA will carry out a revision of the comprehensive development plan for Mysore, which will project and visualise the city's growth and development in the next 10 to 15 years. The last plan was drawn in 1997 and will come to a close in 2007 and the authorities will now take stock of the actual implementation of the previous plan. The shortcomings if any and the violations of the plan will be debated and steps taken to set right the anomaly.